Décines-Charpieu (France) (AFP)

Olympique Lyonnais, on the podium in Ligue 1, enforced the hierarchy on Saturday in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France against Sochaux (5-2), catchy L2 resident but scratched in particular by a double from Rayan Cherki.

Rudi Garcia had greatly upset his team to give playing time to often substitutes, like the young talent Cherki (17) who shone with two goals and an assist from a corner, the attacking rookie Islam Slimani or the young defender Melvin Bard, more in difficulty.

Suspended against Rennes, the Brazilian Paqueta also made his return to the starting lineup in a midfielder also made up of Bruno Guimaraes and Houssem Aouar, wearing the captain's armband.

OL, who scored two goals from a corner, should have made the match easier by quickly taking the measure of their opponent and leading 2-0 then 3-1 at half-time.

The Lyonnais opened the scoring with the Algerian Djamel Benlamri who headed at the near post a corner played from the right wing by Maxwel Cornet in the 9th minute.

Very quickly, the latter brought the score to 2-0 by volleying a good cross delivered from the right by the Italian Mattia De Sciglio who played in place of Léo Dubois (11th).

- Bedia, substitute double scorer -

Sochaux however managed to close the gap with a goal from Chris Bédia who beat the German goalkeeper, Julian Pollersbeck, who started in place of Anthony Lopes, after a service from Bryan Soumaré which pierced the central defense of OL (2-1, 42nd).

Bedia, replacing Steve Ambri, injured (34th), was the only Sochaux scorer against Saint-Etienne (1-0) in the previous round.

However, Lyon maintained a comfortable lead at half-time with the goal scored by Cherki, served by Aouar, and which deceived Mehdi Jeannin with a cross shot from the left (45th) while a shot from Cornet struck the post from the start of the second period (48th).

This was before the Soumaré-Bedia duo again tormented OL's central defense by also taking advantage of a poor placement from Pollersbeck for Bedia's double (3-2, 56th).

The Rhone nevertheless definitely secured the qualification with a goal scored on a corner played by Cherki and victoriously headed by Jason Denayer (77th), who came into play shortly before.

At the very end of the game, Cherki brought the score to 5-2 after a pass from Slimani (88th).

This is the second double for the 17-year-old Lyonnais in the Coupe de France after the one achieved in January 2020 in the round of 16 in Nantes (4-3).

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